GRAND RAPIDS -- Veteran goaltender Joey MacDonald had a number of contract offers this past offseason, both here in North American and over in Europe.

The Grand Rapids Griffins are glad he ultimately decided to re-up with the parent club Detroit Red Wings.

MacDonald made 27 saves, many coming in the final minutes, to help the Griffins hold on for a 3-2 victory against the Toronto Marlies on Friday night before a crowd of 10,834 at Van Andel Arena, the team’s 16th consecutive sellout for its home opener.

MacDonald also tied Jimmy Howard’s franchise record of 186 games played in net. MacDonald already is the Griffins’ all-time leader in wins (99) and shutouts (17).

"This is good. It’s a great place to play," MacDonald said. "I love it here. I love every minute of it. You can’t beat this crowd tonight.

"Hopefully we can keep it going, and hopefully I can stay down here for a while."

Because of injuries in Detroit last season, MacDonald was limited to only 20 games with the Griffins, and none after January.

"It’s been a while since we’ve said a goaltender won us a game," Fraser said. "We were in position to win at 3-1, but Joey made some huge saves at the end to get us that victory. That’s what we need out of our goaltending all year long."

Toronto’s Joe Colborne banged a shot past MacDonald to make it 3-2 with 21.9 seconds remaining in the game, but the Marlies couldn’t get into position to force overtime.

After mustering only five shots in the first period, Toronto had 24 in the final two, including six in the final three minutes.

"That last minute was pretty wild there," Griffins forward Gustav Nyquist said. "Joey was tremendous for us back there in net today. Huge saves at the end."

Nyquist, Willie Coetzee and Doug Janik scored for the Griffins, and Chris Conner had two assists.

Janik’s score proved to be the game-winner just 15 seconds into the third period off a nice feed from Conner.

With the score tied at 1-1, Nyquist banged a shot past Marlies goalie Ben Scrivens with only 3.6 seconds remaining in the first.

GRIFFINS 3, MARLIES 2

Next game: Grand Rapids at Rochester, 6 p.m. Sunday

Radio: WMAX-FM (96.1)

Toronto took a 1-0 lead when Matt Lashoff, the older brother of Griffins defenseman Brian Lashoff, got the puck to bounce past MacDonald 7:58 into the game.

Coetzee tied it, though, just 53 seconds later with his second goal in as many games this season.

The win evened the Griffins’ record at 1-1 as they prepare for a five-game road trip that is tied for their longest of the season and starts Sunday in Rochester.

Fraser was happy to see his team grind out a hard-fought victory that helped the Griffins improve to 10-5-0-1 in home openers, especially since he expects there to be many more throughout the season.

"You’ve got to remember, there’s a lot of young kids out there and they played against Toronto’s high-end talent," Fraser said. "First two periods, they did a great job. The last 10 minutes I kept playing them and playing them because they’ve got to learn."

MacDonald wasn’t surprised the Marlies made a late push.

"When they were down 3-1, you knew they weren’t going to just fold over," MacDonald said. "They’ve got a good team and they fought until the bitter end."

Griffins notesDefenseman Brendan Smith remains with the Red Wings as he whittles away at the five-game NHL suspension he was handed after a preseason hit he made against the Chicago Blackhawks. Smith also was suspended for three games by the AHL, a punishment that ends Tuesday. ... Before the game, the team held a moment of silence for the victims of September’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which included former Griffins Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek and Stefan Liv. ... Grand Rapids’ Mitch Callahan and Toronto’s Jeff Finger had a brief-but-frenzied fight at the 3:15 mark of the second period.